Twitter rules

Twitter is great in many ways, but it’s also a place where things can get out of hand, often unnecessarily so. It’s frustrating because an overall positive experience can be dampened by people who’re just not thinking before they tweet. Then there’s the asshats, trolls, and idiots as well, obviously, but those are easy enough to manage by blocking and reporting.

Here are the Twitter rules.

Be nice.

Don’t put a dot in front of a reply, this making it public to all who follows you rather than just to the ones who follow both you and the person you’re talking to. Only do this if it’s a reply that’s interesting to all.

Remember that 140 characters aren’t a lot of room for nuances.

Don’t assume people have read all your tweets, nor that the tweets they’ve read were in chronological order. Apps and user interfaces mess with that.

Give people the benefit of a doubt. Twitter is short and harsh by default.

Remember that there are people behind the accounts. Act accordingly.

Don’t talk to the bots. Block them.

Don’t talk to trolls and people harassing you or others. Block and report them.

Remember to log off, especially when things get out of hand. Hug someone you love, and forget about the soapbox for a while.